REDDING -- A Metro-North official said Wednesday that a blaring radio contributed to car-train collision that left a Danbury man dead and three other people critically injured near the West Redding station on Sunday.

Railroad spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said the engineer of the three-car work train told investigators that the radio in the Subaru Outback was still playing "very loud" when he stopped his locomotive and rushed to check on the crumpled automobile's occupants.

"I'm sure it was a factor," Anders said. "Anyone who approaches a railroad crossing and is not paying attention is taking their life in their hands."

Wayne Balacky, 21, of Danbury, was killed as result of the 1:20 p.m. accident at the Long Ridge Road crossing. Three others in the vehicle, Jausheema Perkins, 19, James Redmond, 21, and Fakeem Morning, 19 -- all Danbury residents -- were critically injured and remained hospitalized Wednesday. Police said Perkins was the driver.

The crossing is not protected by gates that prevent traffic from crossing the tracks when a train is coming. But Anders said investigators have determined that the warning systems, including flashing lights and bells, were operating and were activated for the federally mandated 20 seconds prior to the southbound train entered the crossing.

An "event recorder" on the engine also confirmed that the engineer blew his whistle and activated warning bells on the train as he approached, Anders said.

"All the systems were working as intended," she said.

Because the engineer was seated on the right side of the locomotive and the Subaru was crossing the tracks from the left, the car was not in the engineer's direct line of sight and he never applied the brakes on the train, Anders said. The event recorder, she said, shows that the train was traveling at 50 mph, the speed limit for that stretch of track.

U.S. Department of Transportation records dating back to 1970 indicate that Sunday's accident was the third at the Long Ridge Road crossing, and the first in which someone was killed. Accidents also occurred there in 1989 and 2010, the records show.

The configuration of the roads adjacent to the crossing is somewhat unusual, with Simpaug Turnpike and Side Cut Road converging as the arms of a "Y" before joining Long Ridge Road, which inclines to cross the tracks.

Several people in the mixed residential and commercial neighborhood said Wednesday they would like to see gates installed to prevent future accidents.

"I don't feel secure without them," said Siobhan Peltrauf, whose family has rented a house near the station for the past year.

Peltrauf noted that the tracks curve sharply through the woods just north of the crossing, the direction that the train was coming from on Sunday, making it more difficult for drivers to see.

"I always stop and look, even when the lights aren't flashing," she said. "They really need those bars."

All of those interviewed Wednesday said they had never seen the warning signals fail to operate when a train was coming. Dottie DeLuca, who owns the Fleur De Lis antiques shop in the small plaza near the tracks, said the train whistles "seemed to be getting louder" in the three years she's been there.

One Side Cut Road resident, who didn't want to be identified, said drivers sometimes "shoot the tracks" when the crossing lights were flashing, but he hadn't seen any close calls in the three years he's lived there.

But Michael Vasale, who works at Lombardi's Pizza in the plaza, said he's seen police crack down on such motorists in the past.

The warning lights will flash to flash even when a Danbury-bound train is stopped at the station, because it is only about 150 yards from the crossing.

"One of our delivery guys went through while the train was there, and he got a pretty big fine," Vasale said.